David's appeal at the burial of Abner: when "the King lifted up his voice, and wept at the grave of Abner; and all the people wept, and the King lamented over Abner, and said, Died Abner as a fool dieth? Thy hands were not bound, nor thy feet put into fetters; as a man falleth before wicked men, so fellest thou: and all the people wept again over him.” (2 Sam. iii. 32-34.) As the King dwelt on the affecting circumstances of his death: 'Died Abner as a criminal dieth? No. His hands were not pinioned, his feet were not fettered as those of a malefactor. Abner fell not before just men by a judicial sentence, but as an innocent man, "falleth before wicked men;" so fell Abner, by the deceitful wickedness, and cruel treachery of Joab.' At such an appeal to their knowledge of the character of Abner, and his untimely end, "all the people wept again over him," grieved that such a great man in Israel had fallen a victim that day to the base and cruel perfidy of Joab, who

"shed the blood of war in peace;" and thus, among other ceremonies, it is still customary among the Jews to deliver at the grave an affecting address, if the deceased was a person of any rank or esteem.

To attend a funeral has ever been considered as a token of sympathy, and a mark of respect from the earliest ages. In proof of this, we may adduce, not only the burial of Abner, accompanied as it was by the whole army, and by their Sovereign; for "King David himself followed the bier;" (2 Sam. iii. 31.) but the record of Jacob's funeral furnishes another example. The respect shewn to the remains of that aged patriarch, as a great and distinguished person, is thus related :-" And Joseph went up to bury his father, and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt; and all the house of Joseph, and his brethren, and his father's house; and there went up with him both chariots and horsemen,

and it was a very great company." (Gen. 1. 7, 8, 9.) And this custom we find perpetuated through succeeding ages; for, at the funeral of the widow's son "much people of the city was with her." (Luke vii. 12.)

It is to this day customary, in some parts of England, for a great number of uninvited persons to join the funeral procession, in testimony of their respect for the deceased. In Wales, the practice may be considered as almost universal. At the funeral of the late Mr. Charles, of Bala, the procession extended more than a mile: "And as the dark files moved slowly and softly along to the village Church, the silence of the scene was, as is customary with the Welsh, broken by the solemn and subdued voices of the multitude, who sang appropriate hymns. When the vast concourse of mourners reached the Church, it was found much too small to contain the dense mass that had been collected, from all the surrounding country, to pay their last tribute of respect

was

to one whose life had been devoted to their religious instruction." The writer himself once saw a funeral procession in North Wales which he can never forget. It composed, indeed, a very great company"-so great, that his eldest son exclaimed, in child-like simplicity, "Its as if the King was dead;" though, in fact, it nothing more than the funeral of a Welsh farmer, who was respected, far and near, for the excellency of his character. The attendance at this funeral filled Llanbadarn Church, one of the largest in the Principality. When the grave was covered with soil, a woman knelt down and planted laurel branches, as emblems of the immortality of his soul, and his victory over death.

The adorning of graves with trees and flowers is a custom of high antiquity, and, in the present day, is not peculiar to any one nation. Dallaway, in describing the tombs of the Turks in Constantinople, tells

us,

that even the humblest graves are

marked by cypresses, planted at the head and feet; and the groves of these trees, of every size, are very extensive ;" "and" he adds, "that between some of the tombs is placed a chest of ornamented stone, in which are planted herbs and aromatic flowers, which are regularly cultivated by the females of the family." Dr. Chandler, in his travels in Lesser Asia, informs us that "he found some Turkish graves adorned with myrtles ;" and another traveller mentions, "that myrtles are diligently cultivated at Aleppo for that purpose." In our own country, the practice of planting shrubs and flowers is but partial. The custom is more general in Wales than in any part of the United Kingdom.

"There some kind hand is seen to bring

Its offering to the tomb;

And say, as fades the rose in spring,

So fades a sister's bloom."

In some of the Churchyards in the Southern Principality, the graves are little beds of flowers, rather, indeed, to be admired for their simplicity, and for the pious affection with